“Video content item” is understood to mean any type of content capable of yielding moving images forming a video, whether or not accompanied by sound. An example of a video content item is an avi or mpeg file. In the remainder of the description, the terms “video content”, “content”, and “video” will be used interchangeably.
“Rendering a video content item” is understood to mean any processing of a video content item such that at least one piece of information contained in the content item can be transmitted to the user. Examples of rendering a video content item include the playback of at least a portion of the images or soundtrack included in the video content item, via a screen, speakers, or a holographic or three-dimensional device.
“Navigating a plurality of video content items” is understood to mean the possibility for a user to monitor progress or browse through different moments in the plurality of video content items, for example by launching a video among the plurality of videos or by viewing an image or a progress bar corresponding to the advancement of the rendering of the plurality of video content items.
“Graphical user interface” (GUI) is understood to mean any device for human-machine dialogue in which the objects to be manipulated are drawn in the form of icons on the screen, enabling the user to imitate a physical manipulation of these objects by means of a pointing device (remote control, fingers, stylus, or mouse for example). In particular, the graphical user interface may include a display of various components such as a primary video content playback area and a progress bar, with certain components or component portions being selectable by the user.
The proliferation of sources of video content, for example websites hosting video content such as Dailymotion™ or YouTube™, social networks, or even email, makes it complex to manage graphical user interfaces configured for rendering such content.
In particular, each source requires executing a respective application for rendering the content extracted from the source, by means of a graphical user interface comprised in the application. In the example of rendering video content on a television by means of a set-top box, content extracted from the YouTube™ platform is rendered by a dedicated application, content extracted from an email is rendered by a dedicated application, etc.
The successive or simultaneous execution of these applications has many disadvantages. In particular, the hardware resources required by these applications are significant. The processing capacities (use of the processor or RAM) or the battery of the system on which the applications are executed are strongly impacted. Furthermore, the cost of the bandwidth consumed by the system is more difficult to justify when multiple applications of heterogeneous design are used.
In order to solve these problems and facilitate user viewing of video content, it has been proposed to collect the various video content items and to render them by means of a single graphical user interface, or at least by a single application. To do this, it is possible for example to successively render various video content items from different sources, by means of a single graphical user interface.
The aggregation of various video content items into a plurality of video content items to be successively rendered makes it difficult for a user to monitor progress in the rendering of content. Typically the user may wish to know his or her current location in the rendering of the plurality of content items. To do so, it is frequently necessary for the user to call upon the graphical user interface to find out where he or she is in the rendering of the plurality of content items.
These manipulations limit the advantages, in terms of usage of hardware resources, of aggregating the video content items into a plurality of content items rendered by a single interface. Interactions with the user interface are costly in terms of electrical energy and also may make unnecessary demands on the processor.
There is therefore a need to streamline the rendering of a plurality of video content items via a graphical user interface.